Elle's First Date
by endlesspath
Summary: Elle goes on her first date. And it's up to Claire to make sure everything goes smoothly. EllePeter ClaireWest. COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Heroes. But maybe if I close my eyes and concentrate…nope, still not mine. I don't own anything else either.

Summary: Elle goes on her first date. And it's up to Claire to make sure everything goes smoothly.

* * *

Elle was excited. That's the only way that Claire could describe how Elle was acting. She had never seen her like this before. She had changed her clothes at least seven times before now. The only reason she hadn't changed again was because of Claire's comment about if she changed one more time she might not be ready when he arrived. Elle had been changing for silly reasons anyway. The first few times had been alright, Claire thought it was probably normal. It was when Elle changed out of her sixth outfit and into her seventh because six was 'unlucky;' Claire put her foot down and made the comment. It didn't really matter anyway; Elle looked just as stunning as she did in her all her other outfits. 

Claire watched the older girl pace around the apartment's living room. She was like a little kid waiting for Christmas day. Her excitement was infectious. Claire found herself rather jittery about the oncoming night. She hoped everything went well for Elle. It was her first date and it was a long time coming too.

"You don't think he's forgotten, do you?" Elle asked, stopping in her position to look at Claire.

Claire shook her head and smiled, "Not a chance, there's no way that Peter would forget." They had gone over this before. Claire supposed she would be feeling much the same way. Though if Peter did forget, Elle wouldn't get the chance to cut off his head; Claire would have done it already. But she knew that Peter wouldn't forget; he just wasn't like that. "No, he said he'd pick you up at seven. You can wait five minutes, can't you?"

Claire laughed as Elle glanced at the wall-mounted clock. "Yes," said Elle as she tried hard not to smile at Claire's laugh. "My insides are all jittery. It feels like my lightning is tingling all over."

"That's because you're excited. Every girl looks forward to their first date."

Elle nodded and completed another circuit around the living room. Claire noticed that her hands were glowing blue as small electrical arcs danced between her fingers "You're not gonna zap him, are you?"

Elle grinned childishly, "Only if he's late." She walked up to Claire and sat down on the coffee table, facing the younger girl. "I could shock you though. It might make me feel bit less nervous."

"You're not nervous though, you just want to shock someone."

"Oh, come on," Elle pleaded jokingly. "Pretty please; it won't hurt that much."

Claire giggled and shook her head. Both girls froze as a heavy knock sounded at the front door. Elle quickly stood up, making Claire giggle again at her immediate change of attitude.

Elle glared at her as she made her way around the coffee table and opened the door. "Hi, Peter." She said flirtatiously, making Claire roll her eyes. There really was no warning with Elle. She was as unpredictable as her lightning.

"Hey, Elle," replied Peter from the doorway. "Are you ready to go?"

"Almost," Elle said. Claire grinned at Elle's words. She had been ready almost an hour ago. Claire laughed to herself. Elle was really wanting to the part; she must have watched so many movies. Claire held her hand over her mouth; she really didn't want to spoil Elle's moment.

She managed to put on a straight face as Elle walked back and whispered, "Don't wait up." Elle winked and walked back to the front door, closing it behind her.

Claire waited a moment before she pulled out her cell-phone and dialled a number. "Hey, West, it's me … Claire. Phase one is complete … no, not really … well, okay, there were a few setbacks. But we're on back on track … Yes; I do think this will work. Come pick me up … No, don't bother with the ski-mask, we don't wanna be too suspicious … yeah … okay … see you soon."

Claire smiled and closed her phone. Things were going to go perfectly for Elle; she'd make sure of it.

* * *

"Can you go a bit faster?" Claire asked as she tried to move her rapidly flapping hair out of her face. "We don't wanna lose them." 

West looked down at her and attempted to hasten his flight, "Well, could you stop wriggling around then. I can barely see where I'm going." He flew a bit higher and attempted to locate Peter's car. "Where are they going?"

Claire looked down, her stomach stirring uncomfortably when she saw how high they were. She wasn't afraid of heights, just the fact that West might drop her into the middle of a busy street. "Ah, they were going to this restaurant first; this Italian place, I think…El something. I don't know. They should be close by now; it wasn't that far from Elle's apartment."

"Oh, I know the place. Hold on, there's this rooftop that gives a perfect view into the restaurant."

"How do you know that?" Claire asked. She paused as she felt something hard poke leg. "Wait a minute, that's not…"

"They're the binoculars, Claire." West said quickly.

"Why'd you bring binoculars?"

"Well, if we're gonna spy on someone, we might as well do it right."

"We're not spying," said Claire, looking down they flew towards the restaurant. "We're just making sure that nothing interrupts their date."

"Sounds like spying to me." West said under his breath.

"What?" Claire asked, looking back at him.

"We're here." West said loudly as he landed softly on a roof-top.

Claire's feet hit the ground lightly. She shivered and wrapped her arms around her body in an effort to block the cool breeze. She immediately wished she'd thought to bring a jacket; she had been so caught up in Elle's preparation and planning that she had completely forgotten about what she might need.

"Here," said West, pushing a spare jacket into her arms. "I thought you'd forget so I packed a spare.

"You really did think of everything, didn't you?" Claire smiled as she pulled the jacket over her head.

West shrugged and positioned himself near the edge of the building, kneeling down to watch the traffic pass by. "What setbacks were there?" he asked as he held his binoculars to his eyes.

Claire turned to look at him. "Excuse me?"

He glanced at her before turning his attention back to the restaurant. "You mentioned there were a few setbacks. What happened?"

Claire sighed and settled down next to him. "There was just some guy at the grocery store yesterday – before Peter asked her out – he was just flirting with her. But I couldn't have him ruining the plan. I think his name was Dean…Dean Winchester; that's what he said his name was."

"How'd you stop him?"

Claire hesitated before answering. "I stole his '67 Impala."

West threw his head back and laughed. "You stole his car?!" He said incredulously. "What'd you do with it?"

Claire shrugged. "I drove it a couple of blocks away and left it at a corner. It worked though, he looked like he was in a panic searching for it. As soon as his brother told him the car was gone, he was off running." Claire giggled. "I swear he started hyperventilating."

West laughed again, "Well, I would too if I had a car like that and someone stole it." Claire grinned as West continued speaking. "I had a much easier time then you. All it took to get Peter to ask Elle out was a little side comment about how much she liked him. I didn't even know she liked him until you told me. I didn't even know that Peter liked her. But it was pretty obvious after I made the comment."

"See, I told you they're into each other."

West nodded, "Yeah, though as long as it doesn't turn into the beginning of American Pie three; everything should go fine."

Claire shook her head, "Gross. I swear you've seen that movie too many times."

West chuckled and peered through his binoculars again. "Here they are," said West, handing the binoculars over to Claire. "They're just getting out now."

Claire looked through the binoculars. She actually thought bringing them was a good idea now, but she wasn't going to tell West that. 'Oh, yeah; I see them now." She trained the binoculars over Peter and Elle, watching them enter the restaurant.

"What are they doing after this?" West asked.

"Umm, something at that new carnival place, you know where. And then they're going to Central Park to do something. Anyway, I thought you'd got all this from Peter. You were meant to ask him about it."

"Yeah, I know. But I couldn't find him all today. Do you think he was out playing hero?"

Claire glanced at him. "What do you mean you couldn't find him? He was meant to be at his place all day."

"Well, he wasn't. I must have checked everywhere. He must have dropped by the mansion to get ready or something, because I seriously couldn't find him. What does it matter anyway? He's there, Elle's there. We're watching them in there. Everything's going as planned, try not to stress too much."

"I'm not stressing, it's just I want everything to go alright."

"Well they are; see. They're already at their table. That's gotta be a record or something, they just walked in. Hey, do you think that Peter was practicing that handshake, money, bribing thing that was on Friends that time."

Claire laughed, "Maybe. Probably, actually; I remember Nathan telling him that it was an important skill to learn."

"Nathan's your biological dad, right?" West asked.

"Yeah," nodded Claire.

They sat in silence for a moment, passing the binoculars between each other so they could look around. It was when West was peering through them when he noticed something at a nearby alleyway. "Hey, who do you think that is?"

Claire held out her hand for the binoculars and peered through them, focusing on where West was pointing. It took a moment for her to see, but when she did, she instantly recognised who the person was.

"Oh, no," she whispered.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Just a quick, big thanks to Miz for noticing my misuse of the word 'Menagerie'. It's been changed and I just want to thank you for pointing it out to me.

* * *

"So, how are things going at that little job of yours?" Elle asked as she leant forward and closed her lips over the straw to her glass of coke. The waitress had been surprised when Elle had ordered a coke instead of an expensive wine like everyone else usually did. Normally Elle would have decided to have wine; but she knew that she really couldn't hold her alcohol, no matter how little she drank. She didn't want to be half-drunk in front of Peter anyway. She wanted him to like her; he made her stomach twang in a way that she'd never felt before. 

"You mean working with Mohinder?" Peter grinned. "It's not really a job. You know, we need more help, Elle. Mohinder keeps asking you to join."

"Is this why you asked me out?" Elle joked, "To have an expensive job interview?"

Peter shook his head and grinned wider, "No, I asked you out because I like you."

Elle felt heat surge into her cheeks. She picked up her glass of coke and held it close to her face as she drank so Peter wouldn't see her blush. She peered over the top of her glass and looked at Peter. He was smiling knowingly at her. It was obvious he knew that his words had made her blush.

Elle was immediately overwhelmingly happy and a little bit angry at the same time. She was overjoyed at Peter's confirmation that he returned her feelings; but she was also mad that he had made her blush. She grinned as a thought struck her, latching onto her mind and filling her being with delight. She had a new game to play now; Peter was winning one/nil at the moment, but she was determined to win this little game.

"You know, I might just take you up on that job thing." She smiled as she reached out casually with her foot and softly stroked up and down Peter's calve muscle. She watched Peter's face, looking for the slightest red tinge on his cheeks to signify that she had scored a point in this blushing game. "I mean, we could spend more time together."

Peter leaned forward and placed his hand over Elle's. He didn't even seem fazed by her foot stroking his leg; not even the faintest red blush coloured his cheeks. Elle managed to keep her face clear of any disappointment. She had hoped that Peter would at least be a little bit flushed. But she was pleased that Peter had picked up on their little game and was trying to make her blush again.

"Yeah, a lot more," Peter said. "Things are getting easier now after Sylar went off the map. But I guess it'll only be a matter of time until he pops back to the surface."

Elle smiled and absently stroked the back of his hand with her thumb. "Well, its kind like a whacka-mole game with you two, at least when Sylar does pop back up, you'll be there to bash his head back underground." She giggled flirtatiously. "You're the strongest of us all, as long as you're here, we'll all be fine."

She smiled wider as the faint tinge of embarrassment appeared on Peter's cheeks. _One point for Elle,_ she thought happily. The score was all tied up now. Elle was pleased now that she had found out what made Peter blush. She supposed that compliments and praise would be the easiest way to win. But she didn't think it would be a fair game if she continuously tried to make him blush that way. She wanted to feel his electricity stir as his cheeks flushed in embarrassment. She wanted to smell his delicious electrical scent as his face warmed.

"There are other strong people, Elle." Peter replied, his slight flush receding as he spoke. "You've lived with your lightning all your life. I really wouldn't want to be on the receiving ends of your bolts. Once is enough, believe me."

Elle was cut off from answering by the waitress bringing their food to the table. She could feel the heat rising in her cheeks at Peter's words. _Okay, Peter,_ Elle thought grudgingly, _Another point for you._

* * *

"Oh, no," Claire whispered as she trained the binoculars on the figure emerging from the alleyway, the entire air seemed to chill as the butterflies in Claire's stomach began to flutter madly. It was a feeling of unstoppable fear that came to all the people who had narrowly escaped the man's quest for power. "Why now? Of all the times he could have…" 

"What? What is it?" West asked, hearing the urgency and the tinge of fear in her voice.

"Sylar," Claire said, her tone twisting in hatred.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa; that's Sylar?!" West asked incredulously. "I thought Peter killed him?"

Claire shook her head and focused the binoculars on the serial killer, watching his every movement. "No, Sylar got away last time. I swear, he must have nine lives considering the amount of times someone's tried to kill him."

"Well, what can we do?" West asked with the faintest trace of fear was in his voice. He had never seen Sylar before, but he had heard stories from Claire and the others. He had been told that if he saw Sylar, he should fly as fast as he could in the opposite direction.

"We can't do anything," Claire said, "The only person who can stand up to Sylar is inside that restaurant."

"Maybe we won't have to do anything," West pointed out hopefully. "Sylar might not notice Elle and Peter. They are on the second floor."

Claire nodded even though she was unconvinced by West's optimism. She hoped he was right, but she knew from experience that things rarely turned out the way you hoped they would. She had hoped that Elle's first date would run its course without any unwelcome interruptions rearing their heads. But now that Sylar was here…

"No!" Claire said vehemently, causing West to look at her in surprise. "I'm not going to let Sylar ruin this!"

"Claire?!" West asked; his tone filled with worry and confusion.

"Peter's not the only one who's fought Sylar and survived." Claire said as she pulled her cell-phone out of her pocket. "He'll know what to do."

"Who?"

"Hiro Nakamura," answered Claire. "The only thing is that we have no idea where he is. We might not need him at all though, because like you said: Sylar might not even notice Peter and Elle in the restaurant."

"So, who are you calling?" West asked.

"Mohinder Suresh," answered Claire, as her fingers danced quickly across her cell-phone's keypad. "He'll be able to find Hiro and tell him that Sylar's popped back up again."

Claire handed the binoculars back to West as she held the cell-phone to her ear. She looked down at the slowly walking Sylar on the sidewalk across the street. He looked completely oblivious to the fact that he was being watched. Claire sincerely hoped it stayed that way.

She smiled slightly as Molly's voice sounded through the phone line. "Hello?"

"Hi, Molly," Claire said, "It's me. Is Mohinder there?"

"Who's this, sorry?" Molly asked, making the smile drop from Claire's face.

"It's Claire."

"Oh, hi, Claire," Molly said happily. "I'll just get Mohinder. He's been working non-stop on his computer, he hasn't even noticed how late it's getting."

"Okay," Claire smiled as she glanced across the street and looked into the second story window of the restaurant. Peter and Elle had finished their dinner and were now leaning forward to talk each other, occasionally taking sips of a dark fluid in their glasses. Claire had initially been surprised when she saw them appear at one of the window tables; she had heard how hard it was to secure reservations. She supposed that Peter had pulled some strings to obtain a table. It made it easy to keep an eye on the two, but it also made it easy for someone else to spot them from the street below.

"Hello?" Mohinder said, snapping Claire away from her thoughts.

"Hi. Sorry, I don't have much time. We need to find Hiro. Sylar's popped up again and we need Hiro's help."

"You should be asking for Peter, not Hiro." Mohinder said.

"Peter's busy right now. He's on a date with Elle. Normally I would interrupt to tell him that Sylar's back; but considering its Elle's very first date and everything."

Claire could hear Mohinder sigh through the phone. It was obvious that he didn't agree with her; but he knew how stubborn Claire could be when she dug her heels in. "Alright," Mohinder said, not even bothering to argue with her, "I'll try and contact Hiro. I'll text you when I've located him but I won't send him your way unless you really need his help."

Claire smiled, "Thanks, Mohinder. We owe you one."

"Glad to be of help, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yup, see you then." Claire removed the phone from her ear and quickly switched the setting to vibrate. It never took Mohinder long to contact someone, she didn't know how he did it; it just never took as long as everyone thought it would. Claire guessed that in maybe five minutes or so, Mohinder would text her saying that Hiro was waiting for her confirmation.

"Oh, crap." West muttered. Claire glanced at him. He was holding the binoculars limply in his hands; he was staring down at the street with an expression of horror on his face.

Claire frowned and followed his gaze. She didn't need the binoculars to see what was happening. Sylar had stopped walking and was staring up at their position on the rooftop with a malicious glint in his eye. Claire shuddered as her green eyes met his black ones.

"Come on!" West urged, grabbing Claire's hand and pulling her away. "We have to go, now! Sylar knows were here!"

Claire didn't try to complain; her stomach buzzed and ached like it was being tied into knots. She had no idea how Peter could possibly stand being under Sylar's paralysing gaze.

She gasped as she felt West's arms wrap around her as he pushed off from the hard concrete of the rooftop. She felt immediately relieved to be free of Sylar's glare. She was so consumed by her relieved thoughts that she didn't notice that her hands were completely free and empty.

* * *

Elle smiled as Peter tucked her chair back under the table. The dinner had been delicious. She'd never had Italian like that before; she'd only ever had pizza and the occasional pasta dish. The meal had only been exceeded by her and Peter's blushing game. She'd never had so much fun over dinner before. The game was still fun, even though Peter was winning by a few points; the same trick never seemed to work on his twice; while he could make Elle blush like a school girl most of the time. 

The reddest Peter had gotten was when she had complimented on his kissing back at the holding cell in Hartsdale. She had gone into explicit and slightly inappropriate detail about how the kiss made her feel. She had been extremely pleased by Peter's reaction.

She cocked her head admiringly as Peter leaned forward to scrawl his signature across the dinner bill. She wished Peter could see her doing it; it would almost certainly score her another point in their game.

She waited patiently as Peter handed the bill over to the hovering waitress. Elle smiled at him as he turned around to face her. She was truly loving this date.

"Shall we go?" Peter asked.

Elle nodded and slipped her hand into the crook of his arm, "Yup, where are we going now?"

Peter smiled down at her, "I know a place."

* * *

Sylar stared up at the night sky as he paced along the top of the rooftop. Those two were long gone. He wished whole-heartedly that they hadn't noticed him standing in the street. 

Sylar grinned to himself. It was sheer dumb-luck that he had even noticed that they were up here at all. He always made the effort to activate his enhanced hearing every few minutes; it sometimes picked up words and voices that were useful in his quest for power--or his struggle to stay alive. He had been incredibly pleased and surprised to hear Claire's innocent voice from up here.

He frowned as his sensitive ears picked up on a dull vibration from across the rooftop. He walked slowly towards it. He bent down and picked up the vibrating pink cell-phone from the ground.

He glanced at the caller I.D. and grinned evilly as Mohinder's name flashed across the screen. "Well now, Claire," Sylar said softly to himself. "Why would Mohinder be contacting you?"

He flipped open the cell-phone and read the Mohinder's text message. He was amused to read it in full and proper English rather then the shorter and faster text format. _So like Mohinder._ Sylar thought. "Hiro is waiting here. Again, just text if you need him. Hope Elle and Peter's date goes well."

Sylar's grin widened as he read the last sentence. He quickly glanced towards the restaurant across the street, his eyes searching out for Peter and Elle.

He smiled and pocketed Claire's cell-phone, "I'll hold onto this for you, Claire." He said wickedly. He didn't care that he couldn't see Elle or Peter. He knew that he'd find them soon enough. A few innocent text messages from 'Claire' and he'd know exactly where to look.

"See you soon."


	3. Chapter 3

Claire clung tightly to West as he flew them towards Peter and Elle's second stop for the evening. They had been flying almost ten minutes before Claire noticed that she had dropped her cell-phone. All she had wanted to do was turn around and grab it. West had eventually dissuaded her by saying that Sylar was probably searching that rooftop right now.

She was worried about what Sylar could do when he found her cell-phone. It wasn't an 'if' question with Sylar, it was always a 'when'. He could have access to everyone; all it would take was a simple text message to an unsuspecting person and all he'd only have to wait for said person to arrive.

Claire sighed; she'd never thought she'd regret the day cell-phones were invented.

"Don't worry, Claire." West said comfortingly as he flew. "When we land, we'll send texts out to everyone saying that Sylar's got your phone. Or we could call Dr. Suresh and get him to do it. Who knows, he might even come up with an awesome plan for us to catch Sylar."

Claire wasn't convinced at West's optimism. "Maybe—" she paused at West's self-assured smile. "Probably, but I'm more worried about Hiro. If Mohinder replied back and said that Hiro was waiting, Sylar could trap Hiro get his power and then we'll all be totally screwed."

"Okay," said West as he dropped lightly onto a random rooftop. "We'll call them now. It'll probably take a while for Peter and Elle to get to the carnival anyway."

Claire nodded and held out a hand for West's phone.

"Hey, it's my phone, Claire." West said as he pulled his hone out from his jacket pocket. "I'll call them."

Claire shrugged and sat down on the edge of the building. She knew she had no chance of protesting that; West would just look at her with his newfound pair of puppy-dog eyes that Claire swore Peter had taught him how to do and she'd be screwed. And it didn't help that they had just had an argument about West using her phone when he had his own either.

West grinned and set the phone on speaker, placing it on the building's ledge in between him and Claire. It rang for a moment before Molly's voice appeared on the other line.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Molly," West grinned, "Whatcha up to?"

"Oh, hi West," Molly said enthusiastically. "No one noticed that it's eight-thirty now. They're letting me stay up late. Mohinder's still on his computer though, but Matt, Hiro and Maya are playing cards with me."

"Sounds fun," replied West, "Anyway, we kinda need to speak with Dr. Suresh again."

"Sure, I'll just get him."

Claire grinned up at West, she knew that he wanted to fly to Mohinder's new apartment and join in on that card game. Claire normally would have suggested it straight away; she loved to demonstrate her talents at poker and other card games. But she didn't want anything to interrupt Elle's date. Matt always cheated when they were playing cards too.

"Hello, West," said Mohinder after a moment of silence. "I take it Claire's with you too?"

"Yup," answered Claire, "Thanks to the science of speaker phone." She grinned at Mohinder's chuckle and continued. "Sylar spotted us and when we got away, I dropped my cell-phone. So we were hoping you could send out a mass text message or something to the others saying to ignore any messages they get from my phone?"

Claire could picture Mohinder frowning as he tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Yes, I can do that. It won't take too long. But it'll be more than enough time for Sylar to create some chaos with your phone. I'm assuming he'll try to go after the doting couple?"

Claire nodded as she spoke. "I don't know about doting yet. But that's what I'd do if I were him. Sylar's been wanting Elle's power ever since she zapped him out a window."

Mohinder chuckled, "Okay, I'll get to work contacting everyone. We won't have to worry about Sylar going after Elle or Peter, I think. Peter's got it bad for her; he won't let anything happen to Elle. And he can read minds, I'm sure he'll find out of Sylar comes close."

"Thanks, Mohinder, we'll see you soon."

"It's no problem. I'm putting Molly back on; she wants to talk to both of you."

"Okay."

There was silence for a moment as Mohinder passed the phone back to Molly. "Hi, guys." Molly's cheerful voice appeared again. "Do you know what a pool is?"

"A pool?" West asked. "You mean a swimming pool?"

"No, that other kind—not the table either—I mean like, uh, well, Matt's been collecting money and making people guess about when Peter and Elle—"

"Oh, you mean a betting pool?" Claire asked, smiling down at the phone in amusement.

"Yes, that's it," Molly exclaimed excitedly. "Matt's been collecting bets about how many dates Peter and Elle will go on before they have a sleepover."

"A sleepover?!" West laughed.

"Yeah, that's what Matt said, but I think he means before they…" Molly's voice lowered to a whisper, "Before they have sex."

Claire and West both started laughing at Molly's whispered words.

Molly continued speaking, oblivious to the fact that she had caused Claire and West's laughter. "Matt said that twenty was the lowest amount; he thinks that after this date Peter and Elle will…'sleepover'. But Maya thinks they'll wait till their married. But then she changed to after the sixth date when Matt said she was 'innocent'."

"And what do you think, Molly?" Claire asked.

"Oh, I think after their third date. I hope I win cause I don't have twenty dollars. But Mohinder said he'd pay for me if I lost. Mohinder thinks the fifth date. But then Matt said he was as naive as Maya."

"Put me down for the second date." West said; ignoring Claire's disapproving glance.

"Okay, that should be fine. Matt said that different people could bet on the same slot. Hiro's on after the second date too and he bet twenty dollars and he wouldn't have to buy us a new toaster. Cause he broke ours trying to make waffles. Anyway, does Claire wanna bet?"

Claire ignored West's triumphant look and muttered into the phone, "Put me down on four."

"Alrighty; this is a fun night. I hope Peter and Elle go on more dates. It's been like staying up on Christmas or New Years. It's been so cool."

West laughed, "Well, okay then Moll. Just make sure Dr. Suresh has enough cash for when I win the pool."

"Kay, I'll check that he's got the money; but I'm gonna win so don't get your hopes up…" Molly paused for a moment. "Matt wants to know if Peter and Elle had oysters or are going to have oysters on their date."

Claire giggled, watching as West ran a hand through his hair, suddenly uncomfortable. "Um, ah, tell him they didn't and I don't think their going to."

"Okay then. I've gotta go now. Good luck stalking Elle and Peter."

"Yup, bye Molly—and it's not stalking it's called Pelle watch!"

Molly giggled, "Okay then, bye."

West grinned and picked up his cell-phone, flipping it shut and replacing it back in his pocket. "What?" He asked when he noticed Claire's expression.

"Pelle watch?" Claire asked.

West shrugged. "Well we can't keep calling what we're doing Stalking-Peter-And-Elle-So-Nothing-Interrupts-Their-Date can we? This is simpler and easier to say. It's clever too, don't you think?"

Claire smiled. "Let's go, Flying Boy. We've still gotta catch up to them."

* * *

"Can't you give me a clue?" Elle asked, staring up at Peter as they walked out of the restaurant. She was lucky Peter was actually paying attention to where they were going or Elle might have bumped into something by now. 

Peter grinned and looked at her with those pair of brown eyes that always made her insides gush. "That would ruin the surprise. If you think hard enough it might come to you."

Elle pouted for a moment as she furrowed her brow in thought. _Alright then, Petey; you've gotta thing for surprises, eh? That's pretty cool. You're pretty cool_. Elle leaned back slightly and looked down. _You've gotta nice butt too. If you're reading my mind right now, you better have heard that. I hate losing—but you already know that, don't you Petey?_

She looked up at Peter's face and was pleased to see a small, revealing smile on Peter's face. _You heard that, didn't you? I'd better try and keep my mind out of the gutter then. I don't want you turning beet-red so soon._ She smiled as a faint blush emerged on Peter's cheeks. _God he's hot, I just wanna—wait, mind out of the gutter, Elle. Save it for later when he's not around to listen in; unless you wanna listen in, Petey._

She grinned wider as the blush grew in Peter's cheeks. _Why didn't I think about this earlier? My score would be way higher than it is now._ _But he probably wasn't listening in then, were you Petey? No, you're too much of a gentleman to do it at dinner._ She broke off from her thoughts as Peter suddenly stopped and faced her with a wide grin on his face.

"You wanna go the fast way or the faster way?"

Elle frowned. "I thought we were taking your car?"

"Nope, this is our first date, Elle. I don't want it being too ordinary, you know. The car'll be fine there. So again, do you want the fast way or the faster way?"

"Is there really a difference?" she asked curiously.

"Oh yeah, there's a huge difference." Peter grinned knowingly. "I personally prefer just fast. It's a whole lot more fun then faster. But, if I read your mind right a week ago, you won't agree."

"You read my mind a week ago?" Elle said accusingly. "That's pretty naughty, Petey. I might have been thinking some personal thoughts."

"You were; they made me blush."

Elle bit her lip, slightly embarrassed. If Peter meant what she thought he meant… _God, I'm guarding my thoughts whenever he's around now!_

"You don't have to; I didn't dip into your mind again after that."

"So what do you call what your doing now?"

Peter grinned and shrugged, "Getting to know you better." At Elle's glare he chuckled. "What? Isn't that the purpose of a date?"

"I wouldn't know." Elle said, smiling up at him. "Okay, since you seem to like just fast so much; we might as well do that so I know what the fuss is about."

"You sure?"

"Of course I'm sure, it's not like fast means we're jumping off a freaking building to get to our next spot." She shuddered briefly. "I hate heights. Anyway, I'm sure that'll be faster, right?"

Peter only grinned as he swept Elle's legs out from under her, holding her body tightly in her hands. Elle squealed and clung to Peter as he pushed off from the ground, rising almost lazily into the dark, New York sky.

Elle kept her eyes tightly shut as soon as she realised what was happening. She clung onto Peter, half strangling him as he flew lightly through the air.

"God, Elle!" Peter gasped as she tightened her grip. "I knew heights scared you, but I thought it was only nerves or something."

"Not much of mind-reader then, are you?" Elle croaked. "Take us down so I can zap your ass. I know you have a thing for heights—the entire Petrelli Clan does. You and Claire both throw yourselves off of buildings. We're not all heights people, Pete."

She clung tighter as Peter suddenly dipped in the air. "Don't worry, Elle." Peter murmured comfortingly. "I'm not gonna let anything happen to you. I won't let you fall."

"You sure?"

"Of course I'm sure." Peter said. "Besides, I thought everyone wanted to fly around like Superman and Lois Lane?"

"Seriously Petey," Elle said as she forced herself to open her eyes up a crack. "Leave the mind-reading to Parkman."

"You're not afraid anymore though, are you?" Peter asked.

Elle frowned and opened her eyes fully, focusing on Peter's smiling face so she wouldn't notice how high up they were. "I guess I'm not. It's because you won't let anything happen to me, right?"

Peter nodded. "That's right. We can fly around longer if you want. We're almost there."

Elle shook her head quickly and reached up to play with Peter's hair. "No, height's still make me nervous." She grinned as her index finger crept around the back of Peter's ear. Blue light flickered for a moment and Peter gasped as Elle shocked his tender skin. "I didn't want to wait until we landed." Elle explained with a giggle.

"At least you didn't set me on fire that time." Peter winked.

"You ran away from me, Petey. I gotta little emotional, you know." Elle sighed as she recalled that night.

Peter only smiled at her and began to drop slowly through the air. Elle was continually amazed at Peter's bag of tricks; she loved it when he displayed a power that wasn't her own. She didn't really know why though. It was all feelings and emotions for her, no thoughts; no scientific reasons to explain it. It was the same rush of excitement when she had shocked him back at the hospital. _Peter, I think…_

She snapped from her thoughts as Peter's feet softly hit the ground. He slowly lowered her to the ground. Elle noticed that he kept her hand clutched in his.

"Don't let go," Peter warned with a giant, anticipating smile on his face. We're kinda invisible. Don't want people seeing us now, do we?"

Elle looked at him in surprise. "Where are we?"

"Well, first off, I didn't read your mind about this. I kinda overheard you telling Claire that you'd never been to a carnival before. So I thought we'd stick around for a little while and cheat at a couple of sideshows."

Elle grinned and looked around in wonderment. She'd wanted to come to a place like this for as long as she could remember. Bob had always told her that she couldn't because she couldn't be trusted alone and he couldn't spare anyone to go with her. He would say that if she was good, he's consider it one day. No matter how much she behaved herself, no matter how much she tried during lessons; her father never considered it and she had never gone.

She looked at Peter and smiled happily, he was making her happier then she had been in a long time. It wasn't the sadistic happiness at causing someone pain. It was pure and different, something else that she hadn't felt in a long time. _I know you're probably reading my mind right now, Petey._ Elle thought as she peered into Peter's eyes._ But I don't really care. Peter, I think… I think I love you, Peter._


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Sorry about the long time between updates. I've been occupied with writing my other fics. Anyway, here's the latest chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

"Where the heck are they?" Claire exclaimed as she peered through the crowded carnival makeshift streets. Claire immediately knew that this carnival was one of the ones that was extremely easy to get into but exceedingly difficult to navigate out of. Every stall and sideshow created a new alley or street that was filled with people. It was fun and exciting for most people, but incredibly frustrating for the people who were trying to find someone. 

"I dunno," answered West, frowning slightly as he scanned the streets beside Claire. He immediately wanted to forget about Peter and Elle when he arrived here and start trying to win at one of those sideshows. He swore that they made the ring toss rings too small to fit over the target. But it never stopped him from trying.

"Seriously!" Claire threw her hands into the air. "Where the _heck_ are they?"

"I dunno." West repeated, speaking with enough insistence in his voice to match Claire's.

"Well did we get the right carnival?" Claire asked, turning to stare at West with accusing eyes. It would be just like him to take them to the wrong place.

"How many other carnivals are in New York and open tonight?" West said defensively with a touch of sarcasm in his voice.

Claire didn't answer, instead scouring through the crowds of people once more. They had lost track of Peter and Elle a little while back. After they had finished their conversation with Molly they had come immediately here and waited… and waited.

"Do you think they even showed up here?" Claire asked as she glanced back at West.

West shrugged unconcernedly. "No idea." He paused for a moment then laughed. "You don't suppose they're in the back of a car somewhere or a hotel? That would make Matt happy."

Claire shook her head and didn't even bother to answer. About ten minutes after they first arrived here, they had flown back to the restaurant to check if Peter and Elle had even left. When they saw the car still parked between two others, they had—after a moment of bank stares—came up with a plausible explanation. They had just assumed that Peter was making Elle's first date as special as he could—and what was more special than using special abilities to take them wherever they wanted to go? Claire had actually been impressed with her uncle when that reason came out in the open.

"I'm just saying I wouldn't put it past them." West said in response to Claire's silence.

"So you just want us to peek in the windows of every hotel in Manhattan had hope we get lucky?" Claire said sardonically, turning to smile at West.

"Well you don't have to do it."

Claire laughed and turned her attention back to the carnival streets. "You just want to make use of that thing around your neck."

West picked up his binoculars and held them loosely in one hand. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't. I bought it especially for this occasion."

Claire smiled widely and began to scour the streets again. Her eyes lingered on each persons face before flickering over to the next one. She thought it was probably strange that this reminded her of the _Where's Waldo?_ books Molly always examines.

She visibly stiffened in surprise when her eyes fell on a familiar face. Immediately her own face paled and she took a giant step back to hide herself behind West.

"What? What is it?" West asked, twisting around so he could look down at Claire's face.

"Just, stay there okay." Claire hissed as she looked past West towards two men who were walking by. "You remember when I said I stole a guy's car to stop him flirting with Elle?"

"Yeah," replied West as he looked back into the street. "Wait, is that him?" He pointed towards the shorter of the two.

"Yeah, that's him alright." Claire said. Off all the times and places why did _they_ have to be here now? Claire didn't think that anything back would happen if they actually did see her. She didn't think that they had gotten a good look at her when she stole the car—but who knows? They might just piece two and two together. How many tiny blondes were really around New York City?

"It'll be nothing, Dean." The taller one was saying. Claire searched her memory for a name but it was coming up blank.

"How many times is it really nothing, Sam?" The shorter one—Dean retorted. Claire didn't actually think he was that short. His brother just made his six-one look like five-nine. "I'm telling you that pin moved on its own!"

"You're imagining things!" Sam insisted.

"I'm not. Weird crap always happens in places like these." Dean stopped and faced his brother. Their difference in height was hardly noticeable when they stood face to face like that. "Remember last time?"

"Okay, okay." Sam said in a resigned tone, almost like this had happened to him before.

"Good. Okay." Dean said, walking with renewed pace through the carnival street. Suddenly he turned back and nudged Sam in the ribs, grinning widely. "Just scream if you see a clown."

Sam scoffed and followed his brother through the street. "Jerk."

"Bitch."

Claire watched as the two brothers disappeared into the crowd before moving out from behind West. "Did you just here that?"

"Yeah," replied West, "people are crazy."

"No. No." Claire shook her head. "About that pin that moved. You don't think that…"

West looked down at her, his eyes widening slightly as he thought of what Claire was thinking. "No. They wouldn't… Would they?"

Claire shrugged. "Elle would, no doubt about it. But Peter never really struck me as the cheating type."

West shook his head and smiled in open amusement. "So, where do we start? There has got to be like nine or ten of those pin sideshows around here."

Claire shrugged. "No idea. Your guess is as good as mine."

* * *

Half-an-hour. That was how long Elle's cheeks were flushed with excitement. It was half-an-hour of cheating over and over again at the various side-shows. Telekinetically knocking over pins and fitting rings over targets. Peter had been forced to stop Elle from doing the ring toss. The booth's attendant was giving them suspicious glares. Peter wondered if they really did make it impossible to win at the ring-toss. After Elle's third successful attempt at getting the ring over the target and after Peter's third time of telekinetically forcing the ring to fit, he had grabbed Elle's hand and they had begun to lose themselves in the labyrinth of alley's and streets in the carnival. 

Elle had a royal blue, soft-toy bear tucked under her arm. She had explained that her father had never let her have toys like this before because he'd been afraid that she'd accidentally set them alight when she got over-eager or over-excited—or light them up purposely when she was in a bad mood. That bear had been the result of Elle throwing several baseballs at a stack of bottles. Peter hadn't even needed to help her on that part—aside from one instance when one of the pins hadn't fallen and he had given it a slight nudge.

"So, where do you want to go now?" Peter asked as he deposited his slusho carton in one of the many bins that only half the people seemed to use. It's your call, wherever you want to go, we'll go."

Elle smiled up at him and her own slusho carton followed Peter's into the trash. She poked out her now slusho-dyed, bright blue tongue and paused for a moment. "You've been taking tips from West, haven't you? Claire told me that that's what he said on their first date."

Peter grinned and pretended to scuff his foot against the ground. "Damn, I forgot that you and Claire talk now. It wasn't so long ago that you two couldn't stand each other."

Elle giggled. "Yeah and now that we do talk, you're gonna be losing all of your little tricks."

"Come on, Elle. Choose a place." Peter insisted.

Elle frowned for a moment, her brow furrowing in deep thought. After a moment she said. "So if I said that I wanted to go to the Hollywood sign, you'd take me there?"

"I'd say that its pretty cliché and that you'd be copying Claire, but I'd still take you there."

"Hmm." Elle said, pursing her lips together. Her eyes brightened as she finally thought of someplace.

Peter's eyebrows rose slightly in surprise when he picked up the location in her head. He had forgotten completely about that place and judging by Elle's thoughts, she had just remembered that place existed too. "You want to go _there_?" He smiled down at the blonde.

"You said when we got here you weren't gonna read my mind anymore." Elle said accusingly. Her blue eyes twinkled in the Carnival's bright lights. Peter stared, completely captivated by Elle. He was glad they weren't invisible for the moment because he would have been sure that someone would have walked into him.

Elle returned his stare with unblinking eyes. She tried to make everything into a game, Peter realised. He knew that she did it regularly—that little game they played back at the restaurant had been exciting for Peter. He found out that he loved seeing Elle red-cheeked and stammering.

Peter reached out and grabbed her hand, quickly turning invisible. He didn't care who saw it, all that really mattered to him at this moment was her. He didn't think about his long, private war with Sylar, or the fact that he was on the prowl again. He was in the here and now and it was with her.

"Okay." He smiled and closed his eyes. He heard Elle gasp in surprise, he didn't think that she had even been teleported anywhere before. He was pleased at her reaction—he had taken a piece of advice from Molly, something that she had picked up from her best friend Micah Sanders: What was the point in having these abilities if you didn't use them? He had planned on using that advice ever since Molly had said it and he was glad it was all going to plan.

He opened his eyes to Elle staring around in wonderment. A light breeze was shifting her hair around her face. Peter reached out a hand and pushed a lock of hair to the side. "Why did you want to come here?" He asked.

Elle looked at him, seemingly surprised at his question. "Aren't you gonna read my mind?"

Peter shook his head and grinned.

Elle shrugged and hesitated. "I don't know." She said finally. "I just remember coming here when I was a kid. Daddy knew the owner; I think they were old friends."

"Charles Deveaux." Peter stated as he looked around the rooftop. Old memories were resurfacing in his mind. He remembered being whacked around by a wooden pole here. He remembered his heart getting broken by Simone up here. He looked back at Elle and smiled. All of that was in the past. He was in the here and now with someone he cared about. He had a feeling that all of the bad things that had happened to him up here would soon be shadowed.

Elle nodded and pulled herself onto the roof's ledge, sitting on top of it easily. "I think I must have been about fourteen or fifteen, I dunno. I remember Daddy speaking up here with another founder. I knew it was about me, or at least I thought it was about me." She smiled as another thought struck her. "I remember someone else being here at the same time. He had his nose in a comic book the entire time and kept pushing his glasses back onto his nose when they fell down. Daddy wouldn't let me speak to him, he told me to sit her and don't move. I really wanted to say hello but whenever I moved Daddy would just look at me and make me stay still."

"I've been up here a lot." Peter said quietly as he moved to lean against the ledge beside Elle. "I used to take care of Charles before he died. Before I knew what I could do."

Elle grinned and ruffled Peter's hair absently. Peter tensed expecting the shock and was surprised when it didn't come. "You alright, Elle?" He asked.

"Yeah," the blonde replied. Peter winced as a small shock passed from Elle's palm onto his head. It was a small shock, probably the smallest he had ever received from her. He had thought Elle wasn't capable of producing electricity with that low a voltage.

Peter was silent, not even reacting to Elle's small jolt. His stomach twisted in guilt when he remembered the fierce animosity he had harboured towards Elle when they had met for the first time since he escaped. Over time she had grown on him until all that anger had been replaced by affection. It was that affection that had made him try to get Claire to talk to her.

"You alright, Petey?" Elle asked, imitating his words from before, tone and all.

"Yeah," Peter replied, twisting around to pull Elle down beside him. he heard her breath catch at how close their bodies were. Peter bent his neck and softly pressed his lips against Elle's. The last time they had done this was back in his cell at Hartsdale and that one hadn't lasted long before Elle had shocked his lips.

They parted and Elle rested her head on his shoulder, a pleased smile decorated her face. Peter looked down and tenderly wrapped his arms around her.

As he bent his head for another kiss, several thoughts flashed through his head. He knew he hadn't felt this way about anyone before—not even the feelings he had for Simone compared to them. _I think I love you, Elle._ He thought as an excited shock leapt from Elle's lips to his. He didn't notice the slight sting. All he cared about at the moment was the woman wrapped in his arms.


	5. Chapter 5

When two people suddenly appeared on his roof, Claude Raines had been surprised and more than a little intrigued. But as soon as he recognised both of them, that surprised had doubled and his interest quadrupled.

The woman had a blue bear tucked under her arm and was ignoring the fact that her blonde hair was flying around her face in the wind. It had been years since Claude had last seen her—over a decade even—but he still was able to recognise that mischievous glint in her blue eyes that marked her as Elle Bishop. She had been one of the very first reason's Claude had turned against The Company.

Even more surprising was the man. His hair was slightly short from when Claude had last seen him but those pair of puppy-dog-like eyes were unmistakable. It was Peter Petrelli and it finally seemed like he was in control of his bag of dog-tricks.

When the two started talking Claude made sure he hung right back on the roof—more so they didn't hear him then anything else. He wasn't too concerned about Peter seeing him; right now, the guy had eyes for only one person.

They traded stories about their memories on this roof-top and Claude felt his stomach flip with the sickly, helpless romanticising of the moment. It was like a scene from a chick-flick and it was making Claude's stomach unsettled.

He only knew that he needed to get off of there.

He started to turn around and creep towards the entrance to the stairwell. He made sure his footsteps were light and soundless—courtesy of all the years he spent wanting to move unseen and unheard.

When he turned back, a huge, amused grin appeared on his face and he resisted the urge to chuckle. Peter and Elle were pressed together and kissing passionately. _Oh, Peter. You sly dog!_ Claude chuckled in his head as he moved through the exit and into the Deveaux building's stairwell.

When he was halfway down the first flight of stairs, Claude pulled out a cellphone he had stolen from this woman's pink purse the day before. He quickly dialled a number and held the phone to his ear, waiting for the dial tone to cut off.

"Hey, Parkman." Claude said as Matt's voice sounded on the other line. "Is that pool still open? What am I saying—of course it is. Tell that little girl of yours to put me down for tonight. I swear if the two of them aren't banging like rabbits by midnight… Yeah, okay. Twenty bucks, right? Okay, I'm gonna enjoy spending their money."

Claude flipped the phone shut and dropped it over the edge of the stairwell. It hit the ground with a loud crash and was ultimately trod on when Claude reached the bottom floor.

* * *

Claire's feet lightly touched the ground when West dropped slowly to the roof of the apartment complex Elle was staying in; the place where this entire doomed mission began. They hadn't been able to find Elle or Peter in the carnival so in the end they had just given up and flown back here. 

"Thanks, West, for doing this with me." Claire said as soon as West released her. "I thought it might have been kinda awkward."

"No, it was fine." West smiled. "Just like old times."

"Jumping off giant letters?" Claire laughed.

"Yeah, something like that."

"Well, I'm glad it wasn't weird for you. I was seriously nervous when I asked you to help me with this. I really thought it would be weird. You know, after the break-up."

"We're adults, Claire." West shrugged unconcernedly. "We can break-up and still be friends. We flow better this way, I think."

Claire smiled and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you're right, I guess."

West returned her smile. "Do you need me for anything else? I thought I might swing by Mohinder's and join in that card game. Molly will still be up—as well and all of the others. I wanna see that pool board too and make plans for my victory after Elle and Peter's next date. You wanna come with? I'm sure Maya's got some food leftover—we did skip dinner after all."

Claire smiled and shook her head slightly. "No, no. I'm not really all that hungry and I'm not in the mood for cards."

West placed a fake-shocked look on his face. "Not in the mood for cards?! This coming from the girl who takes any chance she can to play them; the girl who corrupted Molly by teaching her how to play poker!"

Claire laughed and kicked West lightly on the leg. "I didn't corrupt her! It's not my fault she's gotten too good at it and has been taking your money!"

"You taught her how to do a poker face!"

"She smiles! That's all!"

"Deceptive smiles!" West exclaimed laughingly.

Claire giggled and shook her head.

West looked up. "Are you gonna stay up and wait for Peter and Elle?"

Claire nodded. "Yeah. Elle asked me to so she can tell me about it. I've just got to be careful to act surprised at the right moments considering we were following them."

"Just make sure that Peter doesn't stay over, I don't care what you have to do. I refuse to lose this pool! I have a real shot—unlike you, four dates…" he shook his head in a mock-disappointed gesture. "Even Molly knows that they can't resist that long. And she's _ten_."

"Eleven now." Claire corrected.

West shrugged and waved Claire correction off. "Still, _four_ dates, Claire. _Four_!"

Claire laughed again and after a moment West joined her. "Well, I guess I'll be the gentleman and walk you to your door." He said after his laughter died down, though Claire still noticed amusement twinkling in his eyes.

"Okay, thanks." Claire smiled. The pair slowly crossed the roof and climbed down the stairwell leading to Elle's floor. Claire was suddenly very self-conscious being near West. Before she had been wrapped in his arms while he flew them around New York and she hadn't felt anything, but now the silence and closeness was making Clare's nerves tingle with something she thought might be excitement.

"Here we are." West announced, jerking Claire out of her reverie. She hadn't even noticed arriving at the door before now.

"Thanks, West." Claire said. "Really. I had fun spying with you."

West grinned. "Don't mention it, Claire. I had fun spying with you too."

Claire's breath caught as West bent down and pressed his lips against hers. Claire returned the kiss, that same tingling sensation returning, the tickling reminiscent of their very first kiss on that beach in Costa Verde.

They parted after a moment, both slightly out of breath.

"Well, I'm gonna go." West said huskily, a pleased grin on his face. "I really want to win that eleven-year old's money for once. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

Claire nodded and stared after him as he walked away; she touched her lips softly, feeling a small smile grow.

She removed her fingers as West spun around at the end of the hall, holding up four fingers and mouthing the word "four" at her.

Claire smiled widely and scoffed at West's action.

West smiled back and continued around the corner, heading towards the stairwell and disappearing from Claire's view.

Claire replaced her fingers on her lips and leant softly against the door. Maybe she would reconsider her relationship with West. She smiled again and unlocked the door to her and Elle's shared apartment. She almost couldn't wait for tomorrow.

* * *

Peter found he loved the feel of Elle's lips and the feel of her tongue touching his. He loved the little shocks that she sometimes accidentally let out that made both of their mouths tingle addictively. It was the entire reason why they had been outside of her apartment as long as they had—and why they had taken so long to move off of that rooftop. 

From under the front door, Peter could see light emerging from under the crack, meaning that Claire was still awake and moving about the apartment. He hadn't expected anything less. She was probably staying up because Elle wanted to talk about the date and most probably her own personal reason of making sure that her friend and her uncle didn't do anything while she was in the apartment.

"We can't keep doing this, Petey." Elle murmured in-between kisses. "Otherwise neither of us will be ready for tomorrow. Remember the 'M's' are having a housewarming or something."

"That's a week from now, Elle." Peter corrected just before their lips met again. "But you're right. We can't keep doing this."

Elle smiled and pulled back, breathing deeply. Peter noticed that her cheeks were flushed with a happy tinge of red. "I had a really good time, Peter. Probably the best night of my life."

"That's good. I had a really good time too."

Elle grinned happily and pushed open the door. She had unlocked it when they first arrived but then they had neglected to go through.

The door opened widely revealing Claire and Elle's neat and tidy apartment. Claire was lounging on the very same chair she had been in when Peter came to collect Elle early in the evening.

"About time you two came in." Claire said in a mock dragged out tone.

Elle smiled widely. "It's not my fault your uncles a good kisser. He does this little—"

Claire closed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears. "Oh, Elle, I don't wanna hear about that!"

Elle laughed and turned back to kiss Peter again, ignoring Claire's over-pitched groans. "I'll see you tomorrow, Petey." She murmured as she broke away. With a grin and a flirtatious wink, Elle led Peter towards the door and kissed him again. "Goodnight."

"Hey, ah, wait." Claire said, scrambling up from her chair. "I just need a quick word with Peter about tomorrow."

Elle looked surprised but shrugged and moved away from Peter, disappearing inside her bedroom after a quick wave goodbye.

"Yeah, Claire." Peter said as he turned his attention towards his niece with a mischievous glint in his eye. "If you're gonna give me the 'talk' Nathan already went over it."

Claire shook her head, immediately registering her uncle's words as a joke. "No, I just wanted to say that I'm glad things are working out between the two of you. She deserves some happiness in her life."

"I'm not gonna hurt her, Claire… Wait; are you giving me the overprotective friend speech?"

Claire chuckled and shook her head. "No, I'm just happy for you."

Peter looked at her knowingly. "And I suppose that happiness really came from your little quest with West?"

Claire froze and stared at Peter in shock. "…What?"

"The next time you two decide to follow me and Elle. Don't announce it to the entire 'M' household, word gets around." Peter grinned and pulled his niece into a swift hug. "And thank you for handling that small problem with Sylar. If you and West hadn't attracted his attention, he probably would have noticed Elle and me."

"So… you knew?" Claire asked, open-mouthed.

Peter winked and softly patted Claire's blonde head. "Night, Claire." He smiled again and walked out of the apartment, leaving Claire staring at the closed door completely dumb-founded.

* * *

A/N: A big thank you to everyone who's been reading and reviewing this fic. There's one final chapter coming up that's set a week later. Thanks again! 


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Sorry about the wait. School has been taking over my life. :(

* * *

_One Week Later_

Claire reached through the cab's window and handed the cab driver her fee. The last few days had been pretty hectic, even by her standards, but it had also been one of the happiest weeks of her life. The 'M's' had moved out of their old apartment into a fairly large apartment in Manhattan. Currently only four people were living there, but everyone was fairly certain more would be moving there soon.

Claire pulled her coat tighter around her body as she quickly walked down the street towards the new building. She hadn't been expecting to arrive here alone. Elle hadn't come home last night after her date with Peter. Claire wasn't at all surprised, it had to happen sometime after all.

"Claire, wait up!"

Claire half turned and looked over her shoulder. She grinned at the sight of Matt carrying a paper bag. "What are you doing out and about?" She asked as Matt caught up to her. "Don't you have a housewarming to host?"

"Mohinder and Maya are doing good enough jobs at the moment." Matt said as he caught up to her. "And I forgot to pick up some stuff yesterday." He gestured at the bag and grinned.

Claire glanced up at Matt as they began walking towards the new apartment. "You look tired," she said as she noticed the bags under Matt's eyes. "What were you doing last night?"

"What you and West were doing a week ago." Matt grinned.

Claire raised one eyebrow, "Seriously?"

"Yeah, though I had a much harder time then you two did."

"Don't you feel a little bit guilty about prying into their relationship?"

"One could say that I was looking out for two friends." Matt paused at Claire's sceptical look and shrugged. "Okay, I don't feel guilty at all. Did you?"

"Yes. A little bit."

"Why am I not surprised?" Matt laughed as the two approached the automatic doors that led to the apartment complex.

Claire smiled in amusement. "Did they know they were being followed?"

"Nope," Matt grinned secretively. "Wanna hear how I did it?"

"Do I want to?"

"I didn't even have to leave the apartment." Matt said proudly, completely ignoring Claire's last sentence.

Claire was intrigued, "Your telepathy, right?"

"Right," Matt quickly strode ahead and held the door to the apartment complex open for Claire. "I was up 'till around three. They were out for a long time before they went back to Pete's place— I stopped then, just so you know."

Claire quickly thanked Matt as she walked through the door in front of him. "You better have, if Elle—or even Peter—found out that you were in their heads during the rest of the night, they'd slowly kill you."

Matt shrugged and grinned. "They didn't kill you."

"That's 'cause they like me better." Claire laughed at the pseudo-shocked look that appeared on Matt's face.

"That's not very nice, Claire." Matt said with exaggerated hurt in his voice. "I thought you were meant to be kind."

Claire laughed and playfully punched Matt on the arm. "I am!"

Matt laughed and turned a corner leading down a long hallway. Loud noises could be heard from one of the rooms down the end of the hall. As the two drew closer to the apartment, one of the other apartment doors opened and an old, angry looking man appeared in the hall.

"Noise, Parkman!" He said loudly.

Matt sighed and rolled his eyes. Claire noticed Matt's head cock to one side and the old man's eyes seemed to glaze over.

"Never mind, the noise level is perfectly quiet. I'm sorry for disturbing you." With that, the old man walked back into his apartment and closed the door.

"That's Mr. Jenkins." Matt explained and he glared at the freshly closed door. "If I had known we'd be moving next to someone like him, we wouldn't have."

"You used your mind thing, didn't you?" Claire said accusingly.

"It's the only thing that works!" Matt explained defensively. "Anyway, what's the point in having these abilities if we don't use them?"

"We should be using them to help people!"

"What is this: a T.V. show?" Matt rolled his eyes. "He won't know and the others won't know."

Claire sighed and let the issue go. It was a topic that had come up a lot in the past few years.

Matt reached out and grasped his apartment's door handle, balancing the bags haphazardly as he did so. Claire grinned at the sight and took one of the bags from Matt's grasp. Matt nodded in thanks and pushed down on the door handle.

Immediately the two were buffeted by laughter and cheerful voices. "Stay away from Molly." Matt warned with a playful smile. "She's a vulture."

Claire frowned at Matt's back as he entered the apartment. It took her a moment to realise what Matt was talking about, but as soon as she did, an amused grin appeared on her face. She'd forgotten about it over the past week, but it was obvious that none of the others had.

She glanced around quickly and began wandering around the apartment. It was a lot bigger then the old one, it had more then enough space for the four new occupants to spread out. Claire smiled to herself as she thought of the apartments new occupants: Matt, Mohinder, Molly and Maya. It was thanks to one of Elle's comments that the four had been grouped together and called the "M's".

"Hey, Pom-Pom!" A familiar girlish voice called out, immediately capturing Claire's attention. "Over here!"

Claire turned to the side and immediately caught Elle Bishop's gaze. She was gesturing at her furiously with a wide grin on her face. Claire grinned at Elle's childish nickname for her. She had tried to stop Elle from calling her that while she was supposedly "assimilating" to society. Nothing, however, had been able to stop Elle from calling her that.

"Haven't we been through this, Elle?" Claire joked as she always did whenever Elle called her Pom-Pom.

"Learn to love it." Elle grinned, saying what she always said when Claire brought up the subject of the nickname.

Claire smiled and shook her head slightly. "You didn't come home last night. I think that a lot of people are going to be disappointed, but one will be over-the-moon."

"Oh, she is." Elle said conversationally. "I think she's busy shaking-down your boyfriend at the moment." Elle grinned and looked at Claire cheekily. "So, do you wanna here about what happened?"

"No!" Claire said quickly as she tried to rid herself of the mental images that had been plaguing her whenever someone made the slightest allusion to the fact. "I don't even want to think about that!"

Elle laughed. "It's a beautiful thing, Pom-Pom. But, if you don't want to hear about it, that's fine with me. I wanna keep it to myself for a bit longer anyway. Just to let you build up anticipation."

"You mean dread."

Elle shrugged. "All depends on your perception."

"Where is Peter, anyway?" Claire asked in n attempt to move the subject away from Elle and her Uncle's relationship.

"Somewhere, I don't know. We're not exactly joined at the hip, you know." Elle let a small spark hit the tips of Claire's fingers as she finished her sentence to emphasis her point.

Claire winced and shook her tingling hand. That was one thing Elle hadn't been able to stop doing. She had never said that assimilating Elle would be easy. "I know your not. I didn't mean that."

"Yeah, I know." Elle grinned. "I just wanted to shock you a little." She chuckle at the incredulous look that appeared on Claire's face. "I think Peter's 'round the back with some of the others. Mohinder wanted to show him something about his DNA."

Claire said nothing and watched as Elle looked down and scuffed her shoes lightly on the floor. Claire knew that Elle didn't really fit in here; she didn't even get on with most of them. The only reason she was here was for Peter and that fact revealed just how far the woman had come.

She was just about to open her mouth and ask if Elle wanted to leave when Molly crossed through the kitchen and stood in front of them with a pleased smile on her face. "Hi, Claire," Molly said eagerly. "Did you hear?"

Claire took a quick sidelong glance at Elle and smiled back at Molly. "I did. Are you here to collect?"

Molly's grinned widened and she held out her hand. Claire noticed that Molly's pockets were stuffed full, probably from her winnings.

Claire shook her head in mock disappointment and pulled out the twenty-dollar bill she had put in her pocket earlier and handed it over to Molly. "Matt told me to avoid you, you know."

"I know." Molly giggled as she managed to shove the new bill into her pocket along with all of the others. "He got it from Claude this morning. Claude didn't wanna pay, but I think he forgot he can't hide from me."

Claire laughed. To her left, she heard Elle let out an amused chuckled.

Molly glanced at Elle and suddenly looked like she had just remembered something. "Oh, right." She exclaimed as she reached into one of her filled pockets and pulled out a fistful of cash. "Here's your cut."

Elle grinned and took the money from Molly's hand, "Pleasure doing business with you, Molly."

Molly grinned again and walked off, making a beeline towards Matt. Claire turned towards Elle and stared at her accusingly.

Elle only grinned and began absently flicking the bills. "I never claimed to be perfect, Claire."

Claire shook her head and smiled slightly in amusement. "You're unbelievable, you know that."

"Why, thank you, Claire." Elle winked as she pocketed the money. "I try."

Claire chuckled at Elle's response and turned her attention back to the apartment. She smiled in greeting as Peter emerged from the kitchen and approached them with a warm grin on his face.

"There's my girls." He addressed both of them as he leaned forward to kiss Elle. "Have you seen Molly yet? The kids been going up to everyone and getting money from them. Do you have any idea why?"

"Nope," Claire said quickly, barely managing to keep her face straight.

"Not a clue." Elle shook her head immediately after Claire.

Peter eyes them both suspiciously for a moment before he turned back to Elle. "Do you wanna get of here? I know that you didn't wanna be here."

Elle nodded eagerly and linked her arm through Peter's. She paused for a moment and a troubled expression appeared on her face. "We don't have to if you wanna stay a bit longer.

Peter shook his head and smiled. "Nah, I'm not really a fan of gatherings anyway."

"Okay." Elle smiled. Almost as an afterthought, she turned back and addressed Claire. "Do you wanna come along? We can watch _One Tree Hill_ and laugh at Peter when he gets confused."

Claire laughed at Peter's mock-outraged exclamation of: "Hey" and shook her head. "No, I think I'll stick around a bit longer, I haven't seen everyone in a while."

Elle nodded. "Oh, well. You've gotta swing by later then, maybe even stop Peter from burning everything he cooks."

"You're the one who nearly set the apartment on fire when you though the stove was taking too long!" Peter retorted, earning him a light shock from Elle's fingertip.

Claire laughed and nodded. "Yeah, definitely, if only to stop you two ordering take-out."

Elle grinned back and surprised Claire by giving her a swift, but tight hug. "I'm glad you're my friend, Claire."

"Yeah, me too, Elle," Claire said as soon as her tongue began to work again.

"We'll see you later, then." Elle said as she turned back to Peter and began to lead him in the direction of the apartment's door.

"Yeah, see you." Claire called after her as she returned both Elle's and Peter's waves.

She watched silently as Elle and Peter left the apartment. Things weren't perfect, they never would be. But for the time being, Claire was content to play along with the fantasy.


End file.
